Gauge for placing golf ball tees

ABSTRACT

A block of rigid material has an elongate slot open at the bottom to receive between the legs formed by the slot ahead and shank of a golf ball tee, there being a plurality of horizontal vertically spaced pairs of grooves in the facing surfaces of the legs to receive an abutment member, such as a coin or a ball marker to engage the head of the tee and force the shank thereof into the ground more or less depending upon which pair of grooves is occupied by the abutment when downward pressure is applied to the block, for instance on the top surface thereof to cause the bottoms of the legs to engage the ground.

United States Patent Driscoll 51 Apr.25,1972

2,801,852 8/1957 Hottle ..273/33 Primary Examiner-Richard C. PinkhamAssistant Examiner-Theatrice Brown Attarney.l0hns0n & Kline 5 7]ABSTRACT A block of rigid material has an elongate slot open at thebottom to receive between the legs formed by the slot ahead and shank ofa golf ball tee, there being a plurality of horizontal vertically spacedpairs of grooves in the facing surfaces of the legs to receive anabutment member, such as a coin or a ball marker to engage the head ofthe tee and force the shank thereof into the ground more or lessdepending upon which pair of grooves is occupied by the abutment whendownward pressure is applied to the block, for instance on the topsurface thereof to cause the bottoms of the legs to engage the ground.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures P/JEHTEMPRES 1972 3,658,331

INVENTOR.

James E. fi/wscol Z ww p GAUGE FOR PLACING GOLF BALL TEES This inventionrelates to an article for placing a golf ball tee in the ground so thatthe golf ball will be held by the tee elevated above the ground at oneof several predetermined heights.

l-leretofore, devices proposed for such use have been so costly to makeand inconvenient to use that, at least currently, no such devices areavailable ori the market. Yet, it is highly desirable, from the point ofview of the player, that the golf ball be held in an elevated position adeterminate distance above the surface of the ground.

An object of this invention is to provide a tee-placing and elevationdeterminate device which is simple in construction having but onemovable part which is readily replaceable and economical to manufactureand easily used.

This has been accomplished by providing asimple block of suitablematerial, preferably rectangular in shape, with a vertical slot open atthe bottom end of the block and forming a pair of leg portions, thebottoms of which are adapted to engage the surface of the ground whendownward pressure is applied to the block.

The facing surfaces of the leg portions are provided with opposite pairsof vertically spaced grooves, opening at least at one end, and shaped toslidably receive edgewise a coin or ball marker which serves as anabutment to engage the head of the tee placed in the open end of theslot and to force the shank of the tee into the ground until the bottomsof the legs engage the surface of the ground.

The elevation of the head of the tee will thus depend upon theparticular pair of grooves the abutment is placed in, or the absence ofa removable abutment in which case the end wall of the slot will serveas an abutment for minimal insertion of the shank of the tee in theground, i.e., a maximum elevation of the head of the tee and the ball.

In use, the coin or other abutment member is placed in one of the pairsof slots depending on the elevation of the ball desired, the tee beingplaced with its head against the abutment in the slot and held thereinby the fingers or other parts of the hand of the player. The block andtee are then directed to the ground and, after the pointed end of theshank of the tee has entered the ground, force is applied by theplayer's fingers to the sides or other parts of the block to sink theshank into the ground until the bottoms of the legs engage the surfaceof the ground.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the device of the present inventionin use.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the presentinvention, and showing an abutment member in one pair of slots.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the article as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the article as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a view like FIG. 4, showing a modified form of the abutrrientpositioned in the slots.

As stated above, the gauge for placing a tee for golf balls of thepresent invention in its presently preferred form comprises a body ofsuitable material, such as wood, metal, or plastic composition, or acombination of the same, and may comprise a block having a top 11 and abottom 12, faces 13 and 14 and sides 15. The block 10 has a slot 16extending from the bottom 12 upwardly and has its wall 17 located adeterminate distance from the bottom 12 of the block. The slot 16 formstwo spaced leg portions 18.

The inner faces 19 of the leg portions 18 have a plurality of pairs ofvertically spaced grooves 20, 21, 22 and 23 which, in the embodimentshown in the drawings, extend from the one face 13 to the other face 14of the block. The grooves 20, 21, 22 and 23 are placed at determinatedistances from the bottom 12 of the block and from each other, and thevertical spacing may be the same, preferably about one-fourth inchapart.

The grooves to 23 of each pair are opposite each other and have a widthapproximately equal to the thickness of the particular coin, forinstance a dime; or, if desired, a disk D provided with suitableidentifying marks, which may be used as a ball location marker, may beslid into a pair of oppositely disposed grooves 20, 21, 22 or 23 andconstitute an abutment member 24 in the slot 16.

The slot 16 has a width such that it may receive the head or top of agolf ball tee 25, as illustrated in FIG. 3, while the shaft or shank 26of the tee 25 may project more or less from the end of the legs 18.Preferably, the sides of the leg portions 18 may carry indiciaindicating the distance for the grooves from the bottom of the legs tothe ground.

Assuming that the player desires that the golf ball be elevatedapproximately one-half inch above the surface of the adjacent ground,the abutment member 24 would be slid into the grooves 22. The tee wouldthen be inserted in the slot and would be held with the head 27 of thetee against the abutment 24 by the thumb and index fingers of theplayers hand as shown in FIG. 1, and then, with the tee so held, itwould be directed toward the ground and pressure applied mostconveniently on the top 11 of the block to push the shank of the teeinto the ground until the bottoms 12 of the legs engage the surface ofthe ground. The block 10 would then be withdrawn leaving the tee placedin the ground with the head at the desired elevation.

If it were desirable that the golf ball be held at a higher elevation,say 1 inch from the ground, the abutment member 24 would be placed inthe slots 20; and if it were desired that the ball be elevated l Ainches from the ground, the abutment member would be placed aside andthe top 1 l of the tee would be placed against the bottom wall 17 of theblock.

Thus it will be seen that by merely placing an abutment member in theoppositely disposed slots 20, 21, 22 or 23 or removing the abutment, theplayer can conveniently control the position of the ball on the tee forthe particular drive to be made.

While there are only four grooves shown in the form of the inventionherein illustrated, the bottom 17 of the slot provides a fifthdeterminable position for supporting the golf ball. If desired, theabutment member 24 may be as shown in FIG. 5, in which a portion 29which is shaped to fit in any one of the grooves 20, 21, 22 or 23 isunited with or forms part of a disk 30 which has a thicknessapproximately half the distance between the adjacent grooves 20, 21, 22or 23. Therefore, by placing the device 28 in one of the slots with thedisk 30 extending upwardly or downwardly, approximately twice the numberof determinate positions can be obtained.

The sides of the legs 18 may be provided with indicia to indicate thedistance the head of the tee will be elevated from the ground when theabutment is placed in the various grooves.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claimsand portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. An article for facilitating the placing of a golf ball tee in theground comprising a block of suitable material having top and bottomsurfaces and a vertical elongate slot extending from the bottom surfacetoward the top surface and forming oppositely disposed integral legportions spaced to freely receive between them the head of a golf balltee, and facing surfaces of the leg portions having a plurality ofhorizontal parallel grooves variously spaced vertically from each otherand from the bottom of said legs determinate distances representing thedesired elevation of the top of the tee from the surface of the ground;an abutment member, said pairs of grooves each being shaped to slidablyreceive and hold said abutment member which when positioned in a pair ofopposite grooves engage the head of a tee placed in the slot between thelegs and serves to force the tee into the ground a distance depending onthe pair of grooves in which the abutment member is placed when pressurein applied to the top or other surface of the block to press the bottomsof the leg portions against the surface of the ground.

2. An article for facilitating the placing of a golf ball tee in theground according to claim 1 in which the space between the legs isslightly greater than the diameter of the head of the tee.

3. An article for facilitating the placing of a golf ball tee in theground according to claim 1 in which the width of the grooves are suchas to slidably receive a marginal edge portion of said abutment memberhaving a thickness of approximately one-sixteenth inch (substantiallyequal to that of a coin in common circulation).

4. An article for facilitating the placing of a golf ball tee in theground according to claim 1, said abutment member having a main portionof a thickness to be received at opposite edges of a pair of saidgrooves and further having a thick portion which is half as thick as thedistance between adjacent pairs of grooves when said main portion of theabutment is placed in a pair of grooves with said thick portion of theabutment facing downwardly and the top of the tee engages the abutmentat the thick portion, the elevation of the tee when forced in thegrooves will be less by an amount equal to onehalf the distance betweenthe adjacent grooves then it would if the thick portion faced upwardly.

1.! II I l k

1. An article for facilitating the placing of a golf ball tee in theground comprising a block of suitable material having top and bottomsurfaces and a vertical elongate slot extending from the bottom surfacetoward the top surface and forming oppositely disposed integral legportions spaced to freely receive between them the head of a golf balltee, and facing surfaces of the leg portions having a plurality ofhorizontal parallel grooves variously spaced vertically from each otherand from the bottom of said legs determinate distances representing thedesired elevation of the top of the tee from the surface of the ground;an abutment member, said pairs of grooves each being shaped to slidablyreceive and hold said abutment member which when positioned in a pair ofopposite grooves engage the head of a tee placed in the slot between thelegs and serves to force the tee into the ground a distance depending onthe pair of grooves in which the abutment member is placed when pressurein applied to the top or other surface of the block to press the bottomsof the leg portions against the surface of the ground.
 2. An article forfacilitating the placing of a golf ball tee in the ground according toclaim 1 in which the space between the legs is slightly greater than thediameter of the head of the tee.
 3. An article for facilitating theplacing of a golf ball tee in the ground according to claim 1 in whichthe width of the grooves are such as to slidably receive a marginal edgeportion of said abutment member having a thickness of approximatelyone-sixteenth inch (substantially equal to that of a coin in commoncirculation).
 4. An article for facilitating the placing of a golf balltee in the ground according to claim 1, said abutment member having amain portion of a thickness to be received at opposite edges of a pairof said grooves and further having a thick portion which is half asthick as the distance between adjacent pairs of grooves when said mainportion of the abutment is placed in a pair of grooves with said thickportion of the abutment facing downwardly and the top of the tee engagesthe abutment at the thick portion, the elevation of the tee when forcedin the grooves will be less by an amount equal to one-half the distancebetween the adjacent grooves then it would if the thick portion facedupwardly.